People who are considered professionals in the literature studies field have at the very least a master's degree in literature or another related humanities genre. The discourse community is composed of professors and scholarly writers who have obtained their know-how via many hours of research, teaching experience and publication. Their judgment and knowledge are, therefore, accepted as expertise.
The discourse community/ set of "experts" acts as both the author and the intended audience within the system of communication. Because the author assumes that the intended audience is comprised of professionals with similar knowledge of literature studies, certain jargon is used and explanations of accepted terms and theories are omitted. For example, when discussing and interpreting poetry in a journal article, a professor at the University in Nova Corsica, Slovenia, uses terms like "rhyme," "rhythm," "meter," and "stanza," without definition because he assumes that his audience understands them (Bozic, 10). Similarly, when discussing theory in a book published and supported by a University Press, another professor assumes that there is no need to explain what the terms "modernity and post-modernity" mean (Haraway, 4). Because her intended audience comes from a background in literature and culture studies, the author assumes that her audience knows what these concepts encapsulate. |
who is the discourse community? |